


Mercury In Retrograde

by 852_Prospect_Archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Angst, Drama, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 00:56:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/792170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/852_Prospect_Archivist/pseuds/852_Prospect_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No rest for the wicked....<br/>This story is a sequel to Gemini Rising.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mercury In Retrograde

**Author's Note:**

> No warning for violence, but the villain of the piece _does_ get punched, handcuffed, and more or less publicly humiliated. Anyone familiar with Gemini Rising will probably consider this a well-deserved comeuppance.

## Mercury In Retrograde

by Silk

Author's disclaimer: Everything Sentinel belongs to Pet Fly and Paramount. Nolan Emory belongs to me. No one made any money off this. Including me.

* * *

Mercury In Retrograde 

by Silk 

Part 1 

That wasn't a siren. It was the alarm clock. Jim woke up with a crick in his neck and an armful of warm, willing Guide. He almost smiled. This nearly made up for getting a mere two hours sleep. 

His head ached, his groin was a sticky mess, and even his hair, what little there was, hurt. Add to this the fact that he and Blair, two heretofore resolutely straight men, were now lovers. Then there was the little matter of being expected at work in...oh, about an hour. 

An hour? Shit. Jim threw back the covers, determined to go about his business with his usual alacrity. After getting a faceful of blanket, Blair woke up sputtering. Jim stood by the side of the bed, savoring the sight of a naked Sandburg in his bed at last. 

"Morning, Chief," he said softly, waiting for Blair to really open his eyes, wondering how he would react to the morning after and his first glimpse of a naked Ellison-in-the-morning. 

Blair came awake slowly, which didn't surprise Jim, but when his blue-eyed gaze lit upon Jim, it brightened, flaring with considerable intensity before it faded into a companionable glow. Jim couldn't help but react. It was aimed at him. All that love and affection-- _his_ for the taking. 

"Hey, Jim." 

"Hey, Chief," he answered, feeling his early morning erection twitch. God, he hoped Blair didn't notice that. It was going to make Jim look _so shallow_. So _sexually preoccupied_. Well, hell, he _was_. Here he was, pushing forty from the other side now, and his cock seemed to be undergoing some kind of fucking rebirth. 

He knew he was grinning ear-to-ear. He just knew it. But Blair didn't seem to mind. Blair turned onto his side, the better to peer up at Jim through that silky mass of brown curls. 

"We should be getting ready for work." 

"Yeah," agreed Blair. But he never moved. 

"Don't make me come over there, Chief." 

Blair chuckled. "I hope the Cascade PD appreciates your zealous commitment to the job, man." 

Jim leaned over Blair, his heart in his eyes, for once completely and utterly readable. "There's only one person I hope appreciates me, Chief." 

"Me?" Blair squeaked. 

"You," Jim smiled his assent. Taking the initiative before his nerve deserted him, Jim bent his head and kissed Blair, murmuring "I love you." 

Blair grinned, looking for all the world like a sleepy, rumpled teddybear. "Love you right back, man." Bouncing on the edge of the bed, Blair exclaimed, "Let's call in and stay in bed all day!" 

Jim rolled his eyes. As if. "I hate to sound like grumpy old Mr. Responsibility here, Chief, but we've got a shitload of cases right now. That's the reality." 

"Reality bites, man," Blair declared with a sigh. His face fell, and Jim resisted the urge to hold him, already seeing how much their lives had changed now that they were joined. 

"I've got dibs on the shower, Chief," he called over his shoulder, padding down the stairs on cats' feet before he found ten more reasons to stay home and play with Blair. Literally. 

After a hot albeit quick shower, Jim felt more like facing the day ahead. Yet he still had a nagging feeling that he should be concentrating on strengthening the new bond between him and Blair. Hell, he thought, I can always work. I've got more vacation time and personal days owed me than anyone else in MC. What the hell am I saving it for, now that I finally found someone to spend my days, and nights, his cock reminded him, with? 

Breakfast was a slapdash affair. He might wish he could sit at the table, mooning over Blair's eyes, but he was long on love and short on time. He managed to choke down a couple of slices of over-buttered toast to go with his mug of too hot but flavorless coffee. Blair looked vaguely bereft, as if he thought he should be following Jim to the station rather than teaching an early morning Anthro class. 

Jim suddenly stopped at the door, and Blair nearly collided with him. "Hey.... 

Jim turned to see the owner of the shout. "I just thought of something, Chief." 

"What?"" Blair sounded more down by the moment. 

"I'm going to miss you." 

"Well, I ought to be there by 2, Jim. I've got a few errands to run after my class." 

"The morning's going to be endless, Chief," Jim said, sounding like a man desperately in love. In truth, he was all too aware of how quickly things could change. He could take a bullet, and it would all be over but the shouting. That had never particularly bothered him before. But now...dammit, he had the best reason of all to stay alive. 

"You've been without me lots of times, Jim. You'll be fine till I get there." 

"I may have been without you before, Chief, but I won't be fine. I'm never _fine_ when you're not there." Jim looked conflicted. "I thought it was because of the Guide thing, but after last night--I know it's not. You're the other half of me, Blair." 

"Jim...." Blair said his name like something painful was being drawn from his soul. 

"I know. I'm not the fucking poetic type, and I'll probably never let you know how much I really care. But I do." 

Blair swayed closer to the mouth he wanted to kiss. "Shit, Jim, how am I going to get through my morning now? Everybody's going to take one look at me and they'll know." 

"Know what?" 

Blair smiled as he came within a half-inch of his goal. "That I'm in love." 

* * *

Part 2 

Blair meant to kiss Jim only once, but the softness of his lips belied the granite-hard visage he presented to the world. Jim's hands sank into Blair's silky dark hair as he pressed the younger man back against the door. Blair's mouth opened, and Jim plunged his tongue inside, tasting everything from the minty toothpaste he used to the last vestiges of the herbal tea he had reluctantly chugged down in the interest of settling his stomach. 

When Jim finally released him, Blair sagged against the door, his vivid blue eyes half-shut. "Wow." 

"Wow yourself, Chief. It takes two to tango." 

Blair gulped. "No tango this morning, Jim. No time, dammit." 

"You're not...you know...sore?" 

"Hell, yeah. But it was _wonderful_ , Jim, and I can't wait to do it again." Blair's natural enthusiasm was like balm to Jim's oft-tortured soul. 

Jim gave his lover a bemused smile, having only recently realized that he was stroking him, much the way one might cosset a favorite pet. But Blair was no _pet_. A pet was nearly the same thing as a sidekick, and Jim gave up thinking of Blair that way long ago. Sidekicks were not equals, and Blair was not only his peer, but in some areas, he surpassed Jim. Which was very much as it should be. They complemented one another. 

"Are you sure you have to run _all_ those errands today, Chief?" Jim asked, bending over to allow his tongue to lave the corner of Blair's mouth. That delicious, full-lipped, meal-for-the-senses mouth. 

Blair groaned. "Umm... _someone_ needs to shop, Jim, or we could just...go...hungry...." 

"We could go shopping later, Chief." 

Um, Jim, I don't know how to break it to you, but I have big plans for you and me and that bed upstairs later. But the way you're massaging my mouth with your tongue makes me think that perhaps...I should reconsider. A man has to be open to _all_ the options. 

"Meet me for lunch, Chief," Jim said as he rubbed his cheek against Blair's. 

"Lunch? I can do that," Blair replied breathlessly. 

Blair reached out with one hand to caress Jim through his pants, feeling the growing arousal that hid out of sight behind the zipper. "I've got a better idea, Jim." 

This time it was Jim's turn to groan as he restrained himself from thrusting into Blair's hand. A hand that was so warm, he didn't need Sentinel touch to know that Blair was every bit as aroused as he was. "Idea?" 

"Meet me here and we can make love." 

"You want me to skip lunch?" Jim asked incredulously, knowing his penchant for junk food was well-known. 

Blair's eyes narrowed on Jim's face and he beckoned with one finger crooked in Jim's direction. When Jim was close enough, Blair cupped his hands over Jim's ear and whispered, "If you fuck me at lunchtime, I'll drive you to Wonderburger myself." 

Jim pulled back, his blue eyes all wide-eyed and innocent. "Are you offering me a bribe, Chief?" 

"Absolutely. Is it working?" 

Jim smiled serenely. 

* * *

By the time that Blair finished enlightening more than one hundred entry-level Anthro majors about the wonders of his field of study, he was exhausted. He pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses further up, where they belonged. Suppressing the urge to yawn expansively, Blair gathered up his lecture notes, stuffed them into his ubiquitous backpack and headed towards the overgrown closet that passed for his office. 

The phone was ringing just as he fitted the key into the lock. Afraid that he might be missing a call from Jim, Blair hurriedly dropped his backpack onto the floor near the door and ran. Picking up the receiver, Blair panted, "Hello?" 

"Hi, Chief. How did class go?" 

A beatific smile transformed the anthropologist's face. "Fine." Pause. "I miss you, Jim." 

"Same here." Blair sighed, realizing that Jim was undoubtedly in the middle of the bullpen, surrounded by fellow cops, making it difficult, if not downright impossible, to speak freely. 

"We still on for...lunch?" Blair paused significantly. 

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Chief." 

"Cool." 

"Bye, Chief." 

"Bye, Jim. Love you," he added before the older man hung up, knowing that he couldn't reply or even acknowledge what he said. 

But saying the words, even just to himself, made him feel warm inside. He was _loved_. He was very _much_ loved. 

* * *

Blair was ankle-deep in his own paperwork when the phone rang again. Thinking it must be Jim, Blair picked it up without a qualm. "Jim?" 

A low, dark laugh broke the silence on the other end of the phone. 

Blair felt a shiver skitter up and down his spine. Must be kids. Playing a prank. 

"Hello? Hello?" 

When no one answered, Blair abruptly hung up the phone, trying to quell his racing thoughts. There was nothing to be afraid of. It was a crank call. That's all. 

* * *

By the time that Blair entered the bullpen at Major Crimes, he had forgotten the phone call. Every cell in his body was clamoring for release at the hands of his lover. He meant to see that they got exactly what they wanted. As soon as possible. 

The moment he saw Jim, Blair broke into a big smile. Much to his surprise, Jim scowled. 

His brows knitting together into a huge frown, Blair wondered what was wrong. "Hey, Jim." 

"Sandburg." 

Ouch. _That_ was part of what was wrong. He understood that Jim wasn't ready to come out to his fellow cops at MC, but... _Sandburg_? Come on, that was one giant step forward, but at least three giant steps back. 

"Jim?" 

Jim glanced around the bullpen, as if trying to assess who was watching, who was listening, who was even paying attention to them. No curious looks. No overt signs of eavesdropping. Nevertheless, it was a skittish Jim Ellison who grabbed Blair by the arm and pulled him behind him until they reached the break room. 

"Sandburg," Jim hissed, "do you _have to_ look so fucking happy to see me?" 

Blair shrugged. "I'm always happy to see you, Jim." 

"You're deliberately misunderstanding what I'm saying here. You'll make people suspicious if you keep looking at me like you want to eat me with a spoon." 

Blair kept what he really wanted to say off his face, knowing it would probably not be well-received. "What's going to make people suspicious is one thing, Jim. You're having second thoughts about _us_ , aren't you?" 

"No!" 

Jim ached to touch Blair, but it was way too dangerous. His hands clenched and unclenched at the air. "We just need to be discreet." 

* * *

Jim stacked the last of his paperwork in his "out" tray. Simon promised Jim that if he forewent lunch and worked straight through, he would give him the rest of the day off. To Jim, that sounded like a much better deal than rushing home to have a quickie. How unsatisfying that sounded in comparison to having enough time to wine and dine Blair. If Simon only knew. 

Unbeknownst to Jim, however, Blair was doing a slow burn. He changed his whole schedule around, just to be with Jim, and Jim, the big lug that he was sometimes, took it for granted. 

"Are you done _now_ , Jim?" Blair asked, his stomach rumbling audibly. 

"Almost, Sandburg. Be with you in a minute," Jim said absently, not even realizing that he'd been avoiding Blair for as many hours as he'd been there and now, _now_ , he was treating him like a fucking visitor. 

"Be with you in a minute? Fuck you, Jim!" Blair blurted out, forgetting his backpack in his rush to leave. 

Heads turned. Those same heads stared at Jim. But not to commiserate. They were accusing. Silently. What the fuck did you do to the kid, Jim? Jim winced. He could just hear them. 

Simon's bellow interrupted his reverie. "Ellison! My office! Now!" 

* * *

"Sit down, Detective." 

Ohhh, it was going to be one of _those_ kinds of lectures. Jim gritted his teeth. "I'd rather stand, sir." 

"And I said, sit down! What part of that did you not understand?" 

Jim reluctantly sat. On the edge of his chair. He turned up his hearing, and he could tell that Blair was still in the building. Somewhere nearby. Probably the men's room. His heartbeat was way too fast. The same with his respirations. But he wasn't in any kind of danger. Just emotional distress. 

Just? Jim grimaced inwardly. He was on the verge of fucking up again, and every sense he had told him to find Blair and make things right. As soon as possible. 

"What's _wrong_ with you?" 

"Excuse me, sir?" 

"Oh, knock it off, Jim. This is me and you. What did the kid do? Piss you off by making you eat tofu or something?" 

"With all due respect, sir, it's personal. And I happen to _like_ tofu," Jim added, the lie coming surprisingly easy to his lips. 

Simon wasn't letting go of the topic. He sensed a mystery here, and he wanted it solved. But his badgering and his seemingly endless questions enraged Jim. To the point of losing control. 

Blaming Blair for this, especially in absentia, seemed like a cowardly, even unworthy thing to do. But Jim was not ready to let his personal life become fodder for the gossip mill at the PD. Blaming Blair hardly seemed to make a ripple in the undercurrents of all that rage at all. 

Storming out of Simon's office, Jim strode into the bullpen, his blue eyes searching, searching...found you! To everyone else, Blair looked like someone had been running his poor ass ragged all day. To Jim, he was both the source of his pain and the remedy. 

Not caring that the bullpen was filled with fellow officers, some of them close friends, who were still finishing up the day's work, Jim purposefully seized Blair in a vise-like grip, backing him up against the edge of his desk. 

Jim was so intensely focused on Blair, he didn't register Simon coming up behind him. Or the anxious glances that his friends sent in Blair's direction. "Simon thinks I'm _avoiding_ you, Sandburg! _He_ thinks I should be _nicer_ to you!" 

"Well, how's this for _nice_ , Sandburg?" Jim ground out, right before he kissed Blair senseless. In front of Simon. And Megan. Not to mention Rafe, Brown, Taggert.... 

Blair barely had time to squeak, "Jimmm!!!" 

When Jim finally wrenched his mouth away from Blair's, he was breathless. The rest of the MC squad was speechless. And about equally divided between applauding and cheering. 

"There! Is that better?" 

Simon smiled. "Much." 

Jim stared at his superior, his mouth dropping open. "It is?" 

"Shit, Jim, you always were an overachiever. All I wanted was for you to be _nice_ to the kid, not _eat_ him like he was dinner. What _will_ people think?" 

Blair hid a smile, but he couldn't prevent a chuckle from escaping. Jim cuffed him. Gently. 

"We'll think what we always thought, sir," chimed in Taggert. "Some things are just meant to be together. Like hot dogs and sauerkraut." 

"Now _there's_ a charming image. Thanks." 

Megan grinned. "Sweet and sour." 

"Milk and cookies," said Rafe. 

Brown offered his own unique contribution, "Sprouts and pita bread," and everyone groaned in unison. 

Simon allowed himself one more smile before issuing a terse, "Back to work, people." He leaned close to Jim and said, "Why don't you two take the rest of the day off, like I promised?" 

Jim gave him a weary smile in return. "You're a prince, sir." 

As Simon walked away, Jim picked up Blair's backpack and fitted it onto his Guide's shoulders. "Let's go home, Chief." 

And as the couple left the bullpen, Taggert laughed to himself. He could swear that Blair's last words to Jim were, "Oh, you are _so_ busted, man. Just wait till I get you where I want you." 

Jim's reply was inaudible. 

* * *

Part 3 

"Jimjimjimjimjim," Blair managed to say as Jim pushed him to the back of the elevator. 

Jim waited until there was no one but him and Blair in the elevator, his face impassive, not a trace of the longing that so evidently drove him. He reached out one hand to hit the emergency stop button. "We've got about thirty seconds before that fucking phone rings and someone thinks they're doing us a favor to get us out of here." 

"Jim?" Blair yelped as Sentinel teeth grazed his neck. Then his eyes fluttered shut as Jim's mouth found his. "Jimmm..." he sighed. 

His knee insinuated itself between Blair's legs, finding just the right spot for maximum pleasure in minimum time. Blair's mouth fell open in surprise, a fact that Jim took full advantage of moments later. "I know you can't tell, Blair, from the way I've been acting, but I've been waiting to kiss you all fucking day." 

Blair huffed gently, his breath warming Jim's face. "What was that in there, playing hard to get?" 

Jim buried his face against Blair's hair, nosing the gold hoop earring aside. "Don't be mad, Chief. I'm trying." 

"I know, Jim. I'm sorry loving me is so hard for you." 

Jim pulled away from Blair with a sharp tug. "Oh, no, Chief, loving you is the easiest thing in the world. Making our lives work is what's hard." 

"Told you we should have called in and stayed in bed all day," Blair quipped. 

"Now what would that solve?" 

"Nothing. Didn't say it would solve a goddamned thing. But it would have been so wonderful." 

Jim lifted Blair's hair off his neck and pressed his lips tenderly there. "We'll have other days, Chief." 

"Yeah. But you owe me, man. You owe me bigtime. You've got major sucking up to do." 

Suddenly a voice came over the intercom, startling both of them. "Hello in there! Is everyone all right?" 

Jim gazed intently into his lover's incredibly blue eyes. "We'll be just fine," he said softly. 

* * *

Blair smiled to himself. It looked like Jim was going to blow a shock absorber, taking the truck over some of the dicier roads at such high speed, but he was a bit...anxious...to make up with Blair. 

Their ride up in the elevator to the loft was, strangely enough, uneventful. That was good because Blair already felt overstimulated. He imagined that this must be what Jim felt like when his senses were wide open. 

When they got to the loft door, Jim placed the key in the lock and a hand in the small of Blair's back, giving him a gentle push over the threshold. Blair turned to face Jim, his eyes drifting over the hardened length of Jim's body. "Do you realize that we still haven't eaten a thing, Jim?" 

"Food is highly overrated, Chief." 

"You don't bite, do you? I wouldn't want you to like mistake me for a tasty egg roll or something. That could end tragically." 

"Chief, the only reason you're still standing up and not bent over the couch with your pants down around your ankles is because I...am...exercising...restraint...here." 

"Wow. I'm impressed, man." 

"You are so fucking easy, Chief." For all of the banter and sexual innuendo, Jim wanted Blair to know just how deeply he loved him. He had a feeling that Blair, in some ways, might be just as difficult to convince, as he was. 

Jim slid both hands down Blair's back, a bit startled to discover that Blair wore no underwear. "So that's how you got ready so quickly this morning!" 

"I'm starving, Jim. This is so not fair. You treat all your other dates to fancy food at classy restaurants. What do I get?" 

"In the first place, Chief, we're not dating. I know this because you and I do not go out. In the second place, we don't have to go out because we have everything we need right here. At home." Jim wrapped his arms around Blair's waist, pulling him closer. "And in the third place, if you need any other good reasons, I never loved any of them." 

"Not any, Jim?" 

"Not any, Chief. You've been in my heart for longer than you know." 

Blair smiled. He was very much the sun that came out from behind Jim's clouds. 

* * *

Part 4 

Jim licked the last of the hot sauce from Blair's mouth. "Mmm...I always liked Chinese food." 

"Fried chicken wings with hot sauce doesn't exactly qualify as Chinese food, Jim. Besides...I thought you couldn't eat anything that spicy," Blair added with a suspicious gleam in his vibrant blue eyes. 

Jim stared at the man sitting directly across the table from him. "No, no, no, you have me confused with some other Jim Ellison. You're spicier than hot sauce, Chief, and...", he lowered his voice to a whisper, "I eat you." 

Blair almost swallowed a mouthful of chicken with broccoli without chewing. "Jim! We're in a public place!" 

Jim smiled, that cat-got-the-canary-right-where-he-wants-him smile that made Blair's cock sit up and take notice. "Who would have thought a man my age could get it up as many times as I did today? Not me. You're an insatiable beast, Chief, and you're ruining my reputation for being a hard-assed son of a bitch." 

"Nuh uh, man. I'm as much a beast as an innocent little wolf cub who hasn't started teething yet, and as for your rep...you've still got an impressively hard ass. I've got the pics to prove it, man." 

"Blackmail, eh, Chief?" 

"Blackmail is such an ugly word, Jim. Let's call it...incentive." 

"To do what?" 

"To do me." 

Jim toed his shoe off and slid his socked foot up the inside of Blair's leg. "Umm...what are you doing, man?" Blair asked in a quavery voice. 

"Resting," Jim said in a tone of voice that bespoke total innocence. In truth, his foot was the part that was resting...on Blair's lap. Or maybe that should have been in Blair's lap. 

"You wouldn't use that thing against me, would you, Jim?" 

"Not even if you begged." 

* * *

By the time they arrived back at the loft, they were well-sated. Well, for food. Blair felt like Jim was treating sex like an undiscovered country, one he wanted to explore further, one he hoped to visit often. That was okay with Blair, as long as Blair was the only one that Jim let stamp his visa. 

"Let's go to bed, Jim," Blair cajoled. 

"It's 6 pm, Chief." 

"I didn't say I wanted to sleep." Blair grasped one of Jim's long, well-shaped fingers and sucked it into his full sensual mouth. Jim gasped as sensation arrowed straight down to his groin. 

"Jesus, Chief. I think keeping up with you is going to kill me." 

Blair's smoky blue eyes grew hot as he released Jim's finger, all wet and glistening with his saliva, his tongue flicking out to give it one final lick. "But what a way to go." 

* * *

Slowly they stripped the clothes from each other's bodies. Blair chuckled as Jim bypassed hanging up each item, neglecting his usual smoothing of every minute fold and crease. No wonder he rarely needed to iron anything. His clothes wouldn't dare get wrinkled. 

"You are in a hurry, big guy, aren't you?" 

Jim blushed. Sometimes he felt so shy around Blair. This part of their relationship was still so new, and he was so afraid of fucking things up in some irrevocable way. But Blair charged in fearlessly, like some sort of psychic cheerleader, keeping Jim's spirit from flagging. 

"Kiss me," he whispered, and Blair obliged, standing on tiptoe to reach Jim's brow. His lips touched him there, ever so gently, before moving down to caress his cheeks, his hairline, his neck. 

"Kiss me, please." 

"Ssh, patience, I'm loving you," Blair whispered back. 

You certainly are, Chief. You certainly are. 

* * *

They had already gone through their relatively limited repertoire of sexual expression. Jim lay on his back, contemplating the next step. It might take Jim a long time to come to a decision of this type, but once his mind was set, he had no qualms about pursuing it to its logical conclusion. 

Blair was on his side, facing Jim, his hands ceaselessly stroking the older man's skin. "What are you thinking?" 

"That for two previously straight men, we seem to be dealing with all this pretty well, Chief." 

Blair nodded, nuzzling Jim's chest with his cheek. "And?" 

"Well, don't freak out or anything, but there's something I really want you to try." 

Blair's eyebrows rose to the level of his forehead. "Like?" 

"You let me fuck you, Chief-" 

Before Jim could continue, Blair interrupted with a heartfelt sigh. "I loved being part of you like that. It was like...like we were one person. Connected." 

"We are connected, Blair. Heart to heart." Jim pulled the younger man into a tight hug, kissing him fervently. 

"That's why I want you to fuck me." 

Dead silence. 

Jim didn't know if Blair was so thoroughly repulsed by the idea that he couldn't speak or if it was something else.... 

Suddenly he became aware that Blair was crying. Silent tears that trickled slowly down his cheeks and onto Jim's still-heated flesh. "Chief? Blair? What is it? We don't have to do anything you don't want to do. You know that. I-" 

Blair splayed his hands across the broad expanse of Jim's chest, pushing him down into the mattress. "I love you so fucking much, Jim. I just can't believe that you would let me...." 

Jim buried his face in that hair, that dark silken cloud of hair, whimpering at the need that suddenly clawed at his insides. "Want you so bad. Please...." 

Blair stretched Jim's arms to their outermost limits, kissing the inside of each wrist when he was done. "You claimed me. Now I'm going to make you mine." 

"Oh, yes. Make me yours, Chief," Jim intoned huskily, moments before Blair's mouth possessed his. 

Blair settled himself comfortably atop his Sentinel, gradually kissing his way down the length of his lover's body. Slicking his finger with lubricant, he pressed between Jim's legs, seeking, seeking...ah, there it was, the tight opening to his virgin channel. 

Gently working his finger inside, he could hear Jim's initial sounds of discomfort. "Relax, Jim...it's only me, and I want to come inside...." 

Jim seemed to hold his breath for a long moment, then all at once, he gave in. Blair fit a second finger into that snug space, twisting his fingers to widen the area. Sticking his tongue out between love-bitten lips, Blair licked tentatively at Jim's balls, wondering if that would be enough to make his body yield the rest of the way. 

It was. It took Jim by surprise, and with a groan that indicated things were starting to get interesting, he acceded to Blair's request for entrance. Blair rolled the condom over his throbbing erection with shaking hands, taking a moment to make sure that it was well-lubricated. 

Lining up his cock carefully, Blair took a deep breath and held it, murmuring to himself, Think good thoughts, only good thoughts. Jim almost laughed, and his good humor loosened the passage even further. With a soft cry, Blair slid inside Jim, reveling in the feel of him around him. 

"Oh, God." 

Jim's cry stopped Blair from moving any further. "Are you okay, Jim? I can st-" 

"Don't you dare stop, Chief. Don't you fucking stop." 

Soon enough they established a rhythm, Blair managing to find and hit Jim's prostate, quite by accident. But once he did, he memorized where it was, diving right at it, again and again. 

Blair's slippery fingers stroked Jim's cock, feeling the wetness at the tip grow. "Unh...going to come...now." 

"Fuck yeah!" Blair agreed, thrusting harder and deeper into Jim's willing body. 

Jim spilled himself all over Blair, hitting as high as his nipples and as low as the wiry curls at his groin. Jim's inner muscles clenched and spasmed around Blair's cock, sending him over the precipice with his lover. 

Blair gave one final thrust and collapsed atop Jim, his dark curls wet with sweat. After he disposed of the condom, Blair sank back into Jim's waiting arms, his cheek about even with Jim's left nipple. His fingers idly rubbing at the other nipple, Blair muttered, "Mine," so low only Sentinel ears could hear it. 

Jim kissed Blair's forehead tenderly. "Yours, Chief." 

As they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, a phone rang in the distance. Let the machine pick it up, Jim thought. Nothing's going to disturb us now. 

* * *

Part 5 

"What are you doing, man?" Blair asked with a husky chuckle. He could feel Jim's early-morning erection pressing into the cleft between his buttocks. He might have been half-asleep, but he knew a man on a mission when he saw...er... _felt_ one. "Savoring the last few minutes before the alarm goes off?" 

"Mmm...." Jim rubbed his stubble-covered cheek against Blair's shoulder. "Did I mention how much I love waking up with you in my arms?" 

Blair almost blushed. "You do, huh?" 

Jim sighed heavily as he embraced the younger man. "I love you, Chief." 

Blair smiled as he twisted around to face his lover. His thumb stroking the side of Jim's face, Blair looked into the ice-blue eyes he knew better than his own. "I love you, too, Jim." 

For a moment, it looked as though it would get a little too serious for first-thing-in-the-morning conversation. Then with what could only be described as instinct, Blair gave Jim an impish grin. "Don't be looking here for your good morning kiss, man. I've got morning breath up the proverbial ying-yang." 

"I don't care," Jim said, an unabashedly sentimental smile curving his lips. "Give me your mouth, Blair." He didn't know why, but being in love with Blair made Jim feel all kinds of young and unsophisticated and he wouldn't have it any other way. 

Blame it on the Guide. Sentinels may be the ones with enhanced senses, but they follow, not lead. All appearances to the contrary. 

Blair was mesmerized by the look in Jim's eyes. It was the kind of look that said, "Give me all your forevers." No one but Jim had ever looked at him that way. He was the one. 

He offered his mouth, and Jim swooped in to claim it. Losing himself in the kiss that ensued, Jim swung a hard, well-muscled thigh over Blair's lower body, effectively trapping him. 

That was okay. He liked being caught in Jim's trap. 

* * *

They were almost late for work. What turned out to be a last-minute tryst was as satisfying as it was time-consuming. Blair raced into what he was already calling his "old room", pulling out bits and pieces of clothing to strew colorfully about the room, if not actually wear. Blair was accompanying Jim to the station today, and he wanted to look pulled together. 

"Why, Chief?" 

"Why do I want to look pulled together?" 

"Yeah." 

"How about cause I never look pulled together, Jim?" 

Jim shrugged, the essence of Blairspeak eluding him for the moment. But he would try a rough translation. "If you never look that way..." He immediately held up his hands to forestall any criticism that might come his direction. "...and I'm not saying that you don't...what difference does it make if you don't...today?" 

"I just-I want to look professional, Jim, okay?" 

"But why? I like the way you look, Chief. Hiding that firm young body under all those layers. By the way, I've developed a serious fetish for flannel, Chief, so you can't stop wearing it." 

Blair stopped his restless search to run his hands through his dark curls. "I don't want to look like a flake, Jim. I know what some of the guys must think now." 

Jim's light blue eyes darkened. "Someone said something to you, Chief?" 

"No...but eventually, someone will. I mean, it's inevitable, isn't it? It comes with the territory." 

"Blair, it's not like everyone knows. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but who cares what everyone else thinks? We're the only ones who matter." 

"Not in the real world, Jim. In the real world, everyone's judging and waiting impatiently for everyone else to screw up." Blair looked intently at Jim. "And let's face it, Jim, we both know I'm a monumental screw-up sometimes." 

"Sometimes," Jim admitted. "But so am I. Sometimes. So is Simon. Connor. Rafe. And all those other people whose opinions suddenly became more important than mine." 

Blair bit his lip and cast his eyes down at the floor. "That's not what I meant, Jim," he said hoarsely, looking like a penitent begging forgiveness. 

"Do you think I don't know that?" Jim literally enveloped Blair, his entire body surrounding the man who gave his life meaning. 

"I love you, Blair. Screwed up or not. I don't expect you to change into someone else now." 

Their lips met in a kiss that was more tender than anything else. "I love who you are, Chief. Just be yourself." 

Blair raised hopeful eyes to Jim's. "You really love me just the way I am, Jim?" 

"Yeah, I do, Chief. I figure anyone who can put up with me 24/7 must have the patience of a saint." 

"Just for that, I'll try not to make googly eyes at you in the bullpen." 

"You have my undying gratitude, Chief. Now let's get a move on." 

"One more thing, Jim." 

"What?" 

"This." Blair reached up to kiss Jim, and Jim's arms involuntarily encircled his lover's waist. When they broke apart, Blair said with a sigh, "Last kiss till lunchtime." 

Jim winked at his Guide. "There are always coffee breaks." 

"I think that might seriously freak out Simon," Blair replied, casting doubt on that particular option. 

Jim chuckled. "Here's your backpack," Jim said almost benevolently, reminding himself to keep his hands off Blair at the station. No, wait, that would create even more suspicion. He and Blair were always touching each other. For them to suddenly stop might raise more of a flag to those not in the know. 

"Get the door, okay?" 

Whatever Jim might have answered was cut off by the shrill ringing of the phone. He leaned over his lover and picked up the phone with a terse, "Ellison." 

There was no one there. Or was there? Jim frowned. He couldn't describe what he heard as dead silence. It wasn't. To someone without Sentinel hearing, it might well sound like there was no one there. 

After a couple of attempts at "Hello? Hello?", Jim replaced the phone on its handset. 

"Wrong number?" Blair asked. 

"I don't think so. Whoever it was didn't feel like introducing himself." 

"A breather?" 

"Sorta," Jim responded, a trifle perplexed at his own reaction. He had a bad feeling. But he could no more point to anything specific than fly. 

Blair chuckled. "I had one of those yesterday." 

"You did?" The bad feeling got worse. "Where? When?" 

"At the U. I was in my office. Before you called me." 

"Did they say anything?" 

"No...just...oh, yeah, there was this creepy laugh." 

"Did you recognize the voice, Chief?" 

"No. Why? You don't think it's-" 

"I don't know, Chief. I wouldn't think so. But then again, Emory didn't seem like the type to give up that easily." 

A moment later, Jim said to Blair, "Hit the machine, Chief. Maybe whoever it is left a message." 

"No one could have called, Jim. You would have heard the phone." 

Suddenly Jim's cheeks were bright red. "Maybe not." 

"What?" 

"IdialeddownmyhearingbecauseIwantedtofeeleveryfuckingplaceyoutouchedme." 

"Run that by me again, Jim? You what?" 

"I almost zoned on touch, Chief. I know I shouldn't have focused so hard on one sense, but I...I couldn't help it. You do that to me." 

"Jeesh. I don't know if I should be kissing you or smacking you upside the head for doing something so colossally stupid. What if I didn't notice? Jim, you could have been lost...permanently." 

"You would have noticed, Chief." 

"I was a little distracted, Jim." 

Jim had the grace to look embarrassed. But that expression didn't last very long. Jim caught sight of the answering machine, and its glaringly bright red numerals were illuminated quite clearly. Five messages. 

Okay, he could account for one. It had to be whoever called while Jim was in the middle of making love to Blair last night. The other four? 

Jim pressed the button on the digital answering machine. One after the other, every call was a hang-up. Each one exactly the same. That same tense feeling that someone was there, listening, waiting. For what? 

It had to be Emory. 

Suddenly Jim was damned glad that Blair would be right by his side all day long. He wasn't letting him out of his sight for a minute. No matter how nicely he pleaded. 

* * *

Part 6 

"So...." Pregnant pause. "...did you get a good night's sleep?" Simon asked his #1 detective. 

"What do you mean by that, sir?" Jim didn't mean to snap at the Captain, but his nerves were on edge. Five disquieting phone calls. It had to be Nolan Emory. There was no such thing as coincidence in Jim Ellison's world. 

"What do you think I mean, Jim?" Simon countered. He would never presume to know what was in Jim's head at any given point. The Ellison unpredictability was part of what made him such a good cop. But it also made him emotionally labile. Though he'd become more adept at hiding it over the years. Especially since Sandburg came on board. 

The kid really does hold the key to what makes Jim tick, Simon thought. I wonder if he knows it, though. 

As if summoned by some sort of telepathic command, Blair appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The younger man took Jim by the arm ever so briefly, and yet, that minimal touch clearly settled something in Jim. 

"I'm a little preoccupied, sir." 

"I noticed," Simon replied dryly. "You and the kid were late getting out of here last night." 

"Not that late, sir. In fact, it was fairly early." Jim gave Simon a puzzled look. He had asked to go home early and his request had been granted. What was Simon talking about? 

"You must be confused, Jim," Simon said deliberately. "Last night, you and Sandburg were here until 9 pm." 

Blair's eyes reflected the growing realization that Simon was trying to tell them something. "That's right, Jim. You remember," he prompted. 

At Simon's imperceptible nod, Blair knew he was on the right track. Jim slowly began to catch on. "Oh, yeah...." 

"I had the most interesting phone call this morning, Jim." 

"You did?" Jim froze, suddenly convinced that he knew exactly what Simon was going to say. 

"Do you know who you pissed off now?" Simon asked quietly, his dark eyes continually sweeping the room for anything out of the ordinary. Damn that man for making him feel like a stranger in his own department. 

"Is that a rhetorical question, sir?" Jim clipped out. 

"Pretty much, Jim." He beckoned the two men into his office and closed the door. After drawing the blinds, he put a finger to his lips, indicating that they should be silent. Running his fingers over the stem of the lamp on his desk, he connected with one tiny but effective listening device. He showed it to Jim, and Jim began searching the rest of Simon's office. All in all, they found 4 bugs. Which Simon dropped, one by one, into his now-tepid cup of coffee. 

"Now that we've gotten rid of the eyes and the ears, maybe we can get to the bottom of this." 

"What's going on here?" asked Blair, not really expecting anyone to answer. 

"Seems like someone is running their own private Covert Op here," said Simon, glancing meaningfully at Jim. 

"Simon! You think I know more than I'm telling? I don't work that way, and you know it." 

"Ellison, stand down. Spare me the muscle flexing and start using your brain." 

"By someone, I take it you mean Nolan Emory," said Blair, looking vaguely sick. 

"Thank you, Sandburg. At least half of the partnership is awake." 

"Jesus, Simon, what did this guy do to you this morning? Wake you before you could boff that chick from Baywatch?" 

"It wasn't Baywatch, Jim, it was-Shit, Sandburg, what the hell are you laughing at anyway?" 

Blair shook his head, a few errant tendrils of softly curling brown hair escaping the leather thong that imprisoned them. "I'm thinking I'm being stalked by a guy who wants to fuck me or kill me, and those are only the good choices I'm being offered, and I could be fucking dead before you two finish one-upping each other. Makes me weak with laughter, man. Fuck, I think I'm hysterical." 

Simon crossed his arms in front of his chest, his mouth quirked in an exasperated scowl. " _I_ don't think you're that funny." 

"That's because you don't have a sense of humor, Simon." 

"That's Captain Banks to you, Sandburg." 

"Fine," Blair sneered, "and not for nothing, but my name is Blair. You call Jim Jim. Why do you always call me Sandburg?" 

"I take it back, Blair. You are hysterical. Let me call you an ambulance." 

Jim rocked back on his heels, waiting impatiently for one of the men to concede defeat, knowing full well it would never be Blair. Not in a million years. Not his Blair. Not his like-a-terrier-with-a-tasty-bone Blair. 

"Chief..." Jim warned. They needed to trade what little information they had before whoever was running this little operation got wind of their impromptu conference. 

Blair instantly came to attention. It was usually the Sentinel who responded thus to his Guide. But there were rare occasions like now...when the Guide snapped to ready status with a word from his Sentinel. 

"Emory is behind this, isn't he, Simon?" 

Simon's massive frame seemed to deflate, his entire demeanor suddenly grave. "I'm afraid so, Jim." 

"What did he say? And what's it have to do with us going home early yesterday?" 

"Emory claims that you threatened him with bodily harm before assaulting him yesterday, Jim." 

Blair piped up, "But he's right. It just wasn't yesterday." 

Simon groaned loudly. "That's not what I wanted to hear, gentlemen." 

"So? It's his word against mine, Simon. Big fucking deal." 

Concern flickered across Simon's face. "It is a big deal, Jim. A very big deal. Emory could put pressure on the Chief to take your badge." 

Jim laughed. It was a harsh, bitter noise that made even Blair's non-Sentinel ears hurt. "Like that could happen." 

"Jim...." 

Jim blinked, his ice-blue eyes meeting Simon's troubled gaze. "You're serious." 

"Deadly." 

After a few moments of silence strained to the limits of the human body, Simon said in a somber tone, "He's going to war with you over Blair, isn't he?" 

Jim pretended not to understand, but Simon interrupted his attempt at subterfuge. "The kid raised obfuscation to an artform, Jim. You can't even come close." 

"Simon-" 

"He told me that you two are lovers, Jim." Simon didn't even wait for Jim's response before continuing, glancing quickly at Blair, who seemed to be handling things better than his partner. 

"He seemed to think this would be a shocking revelation to me. He probably expected me to suspend you on the spot. Though for what exactly I can't imagine." Simon almost seemed to be talking to himself. "What you do outside of work has nothing to do with me...or him. Though Emory might argue with that last one." 

Jim shook his head, as if to clear it. "I don't know what to say, Simon. This guy came on to Blair and refused to take no for an answer. I was just defending-" 

"-me. He was defending me, Simon. As usual. I'm always at the heart of things the minute Jim screws up, didn't you know that?" Blair asked bitterly. 

This was his worst nightmare. That Emory's threats against Jim would be made real. He couldn't allow Emory to destroy Jim's career. That would very likely be the end of Jim...not to mention their relationship. As lovers, certainly. But even as friends. 

At the sound of such heartache, Jim turned to face his lover with compassionate eyes. "Chief, this wasn't your fault. Remember?" 

"I remember, Jim," Blair whispered, his intense blue eyes darkening with pain. "I'll always remember." 

Dammit, Jim swore, sacrifice was written across Blair's face. Don't you go there, Chief. Don't you go.... 

* * *

Part 7 

If Simon had any doubts about the quality of the information that Nolan Emory so gleefully shared with him that morning, they disappeared in the time it took Jim to save Blair from his good intentions. 

Strangely silent once Blair virtually announced that he would martyr himself on Emory's altar to alternate sexuality, Jim found his tongue shortly afterwards. "No way, Chief. I won't let you do that." 

Blair regarded Jim almost tearfully. The intensity of his inner turmoil was matched only by the love he had for the older man. "You can't stop me, Jim," he whispered hoarsely. 

"Sure I can. Just watch me." Jim took out his badge and laid it face-up on Simon's desk. "I quit." 

"Shit, Jim." 

"Fuck." 

"You c-can't d-do that, Jim." 

Jim gazed impassively at Blair, who was growing more and more visibly agitated with each passing moment. "Why not, Sandburg?" 

"Cause being a cop's like your whole fucking life, man." 

Jim shook his head slowly. "No, Chief. You are." 

The younger man's deep blue eyes met Jim's much-lighter blue eyes. "No." 

"Yes. It's very simple, Chief. If you give up your life, I'll give up mine. Cause without you, there's just no damn point." 

Simon watched in awe as the two men focused so intently on one another, he might have been in another room entirely. "I don't want him to win, Jim. You're too fucking important to me." 

"Then don't give up on us, Blair." 

"I'm...shit, I'll admit it, Jim, I'm scared of what this guy can do," confessed the anthropologist-cum-police observer. 

And right before Simon's bemused eyes, Jim buried his face in his lover's hair. Hair that suddenly sprung loose from its confines, only to tame itself into an earth-colored halo surrounding his face. "Then be scared with me, Blair. Cause I don't think I can make it without you," he whispered. 

For a man who valued control as much as Jim did, even thinking such things, much less speaking them, revealed how truly vulnerable he was. That he willingly gave up that control to Blair, time and time again, underscored the depth of his love and commitment to him. 

All at once Blair's arms wound themselves around Jim's neck, pulling the older man even closer, if that were possible. "Oh, Jim, I don't want to leave you," whispered Blair, realizing just how true that was. 

"Then don't. Okay?" 

"Okay," Blair readily agreed, wondering how come it never seemed this simple before. Not in his head. 

Belatedly registering Simon's interest in their intensely emotional exchange, Blair tried to extricate himself from Jim's embrace, only to note that Jim clung that much harder. 

"Jimmmm...." 

Jim tightened his grip on his lover without thinking, then suddenly reacted visibly to Simon's scrutiny. "Simon! I-I'm...uh...." 

"No need to explain, Jim. I got the picture. With sound, too. Loud and clear." 

Simon looked genuinely concerned for the young police observer. "Sandburg... _Blair_...you can't-" 

"I won't." Giving Jim a tender, unguarded look, Blair said, "I'm going to hang onto what I've got." 

"Things could get damn messy, but I guess you two are more aware of that than I am." 

"There's only one way to trap this guy, and that's to give him exactly what he wants," said Blair. 

Warning bells went off in Jim's head, as he realized just what Blair was offering. "No, Chief. This guy's playing for keeps. In the first place, we have no way of knowing if he'll keep his word, and in the second, we'd have no way to protect you." 

Simon cut in, aware that Jim was reacting emotionally, not objectively. "Maybe the kid is right, Jim. Maybe it's the only way to draw Emory out into the open, where we can smash him to pieces." 

Jim objected. Loudly. "So? So we let Blair be the bait? Risk his life? What if Emory fucking kills him, Simon? Just to get back at me?" 

The fervent press of Blair's hand against his arm got Jim's attention. "What?" 

"What if you let me decide what I'm willing to risk, Jim?" 

"I don't want anything to happen to you, Chief." 

"Me neither. I'm kinda attached to my life now. I don't want it to end now, not when it's finally getting good. And it's getting real good, Jim." 

Blair knew he was winning when Jim said, "If something happened to you, I don't know if I could forgive myself." 

"If something happens to me, I'll come back and fucking haunt you, man," Blair kidded him. 

"Promise me you won't try to be a hero, Chief." 

"Done, Jim. That's your job, not mine." 

"Not from where I'm standing, Chief." 

"Shit, that's the second nicest thing you've ever said to me, Jim." Blair's blue eyes flashed, shot through with silver, like lightning out at sea. "And you know what the first is." 

And as Simon stood there, admiring the two of them, Jim thought, I love you, too, Chief. 

* * *

Part 8 

"Simon, you explain to him! Tell him! Go on, tell him!" 

Simon sighed heavily and gave Jim a longsuffering look. "Jim...maybe the kid is right." 

"You, too? Fuck!" With that, Jim slammed out of Simon's office, leaving the other two to stare after him in dismay. 

"That last slam rattled the glass in the door, Sandburg. If I were you, I'd exercise some of your Guide stuff and find Jim before he hurts himself." 

"What am I, a fucking telepath now, Simon? Jeesh." Blair backed up at the Captain's stern look and raised both hands protectively. "Got it, got it. I'm on my way, man." 

Blair smiled weakly at the sea of interested male faces that swam before his worried eyes. Cutting a swath through the bullpen, he followed the trail of muttered curses, audible for non-Sentinels at this point, heading straight for the men's room. 

Pushing open the door, he hesitated, casting an eye around for Jim. There he was. The man leaning up against the wall. This is good, Blair told himself. He's not freaking out...he just looks like he wants to drop kick that waste basket through the window...that's all. 

"Jim?" 

"Go away, Chief," Jim said, his voice blurred from the emotion that was clogging his throat. 

"I can't do that, man. This is one of those "for better or worse"-type things." 

Jim whirled around, grimacing as an unexpectedly bright shard of fluorescent light struck him in the face. "What?" 

"You know...." Blair looked at Jim, then at the floor. He attempted to clear his throat, but all that came out was a sickly sputter. "Like...being...married, man." Blair blinked owlishly at his lover. 

Suddenly the fierce look on Jim's face all but disappeared, a soft smile taking its place. "You think of us that way, Chief?" 

"Um, yeah, man. I was...uh...going to tell you, but I wasn't...um, sure you felt...the same way." Blair, who was never at a loss for words, was stammering, and from the glistening eyes his Sentinel presented, Jim was loving every minute of it. 

"We didn't have a chance to talk about it yet, Chief." 

"I know," Blair replied quickly, not wanting Jim to feel pressured to agree with him, just because the idea of belonging to Jim had made serious inroads into Blair's heart. 

Jim surveyed the empty men's room, noting the peeling paint, the scuffed walls, and the graffiti-covered mirrors. Not the best place to ask someone to marry you. Definitely not a place to get down on one's knees. Just the thought of all those germs holding a free-for-all on his body made him queasy. 

But marriage? Him and Blair? Mating for life? Not unlike their animal spirits, the wolf and the panther, who clearly knew better than mere mortal humans. 

"C'mere," Jim breathed. 

For a moment, Blair was so transfixed by the light in Jim's light blue eyes that he couldn't move. Slowly, inexorably, Blair walked closer to what brought his life meaning. When Jim's large, well-shaped hand reached out to touch his hair, his ear, the side of his face, Blair beamed. 

"You are so beautiful, Chief." 

Blair started to shake his head, then chuckled, the low sound like music to Sentinel ears. "Man...Jim, this is the fucking men's room." 

"I know." 

"Shit, you're gone, man, aren't you? Completely lost-" 

"Yeah. I like feeling like this, Chief. How about you? Want to make this a...permanent arrangement?" 

No one but Blair could have heard that phrase and known exactly what Jim was asking. Blair felt more than a little breathless. "Jim, are you asking me to marry you, man?" 

"Yeah, I think I am." 

"Ah, romance, thy name is Ellison," Blair sighed. 

"Just shut up and answer the question, Blair." Jim's voice was gruff, but his eyes were tender, reflecting back the love he saw in Blair's smoky blue gaze. 

"Are you asking me now cause of what's going to go down with Emory, Jim?" 

Jim winced. "Nolan Emory has absolutely nothing to do with this, Chief. This is between you and me. No third parties. Especially not lowlife third parties with designs on my partner." 

Blair pulled Jim's arms around him and snuggled close to his chest, tucking his head just below Jim's chin. "Then the answer is... _yes_." 

Jim wound a finger through Blair's long curly hair, anchoring his face for Jim's kiss. Their mouths met again and again, warm, wet, opening for each other. "Jim," Blair whispered against his mouth, and Jim couldn't reply, his heart so full finally. This was what had been missing in his life. But now that Blair was his, they would never be separated again. 

"You'll stay with me? In my life? In my bed? Forever, Chief?" 

"Yeah... _except_ for tonight, Jim." 

Jim drew back as if stung. "What?" 

"You were trying to distract me, Jim, and you almost made it work. Prolly cause you know how much I love you, man, and I swear, I would do anything for you. Anything. Except wear a wire during my meet with Emory." 

"Fuck." 

"Yeah, big guy, I kinda know how you feel, but I've gotta stand my ground on this one, Jim. I mean, put yourself in Emory's place. Wouldn't you be suspicious if the guy you were chasing, without success, I might add, suddenly allowed you to catch him?" 

Jim reluctantly nodded. 

"What's the first thing he's going to do?" 

"Look for a wire," they said in unison. 

"Right, Jim. When he searches me-" 

"Chief! Please! The idea of that repulsive son-of-a-bitch putting his hands all over you makes me want to-" 

"Me, too, Jim. And I gotta get a whole lot closer than you do. Tell me what's going to happen when he doesn't find a wire," Blair commanded. 

"He'll trust you. He'll think the money got to you, and he'll believe whatever you tell him." 

"Because?" Blair prompted. 

"Because he's a fucking egotist, that's why. He can't believe that anyone wouldn't want to be with him. But failing that, he's convinced that we all have our price." 

"He's right, Jim." 

Jim stared at his lover. 

"But my price isn't money. You owe me, man." 

"How much, Chief?" Jim whispered, leaning close to brush his lips lightly across Blair's. 

"All the happily-ever-after's you can get your hands on, man." 

* * *

Part 9 

"Sheesh, can't a guy go to the bathroom in peace?" whined Rafe as he exited the last stall. 

Jim colored furiously and tried to pull away from Blair, but Blair held on for dear life, making it clear that he wasn't ready to relinquish his lover to the job at hand just yet. 

As he passed the two men, Rafe looked them over curiously. "Don't you two get enough at home? I know Blair's cute and all, but-" 

Jim cut him off with a sharp, "Did you say you think Blair is cute?" 

Rafe looked vaguely embarrassed at his admission. "Well, yeah. I mean, he is. Isn't he?" 

A whimsical smile on his lips, Jim pondered. Oh, the possibilities. He could have such fun tweaking Rafe and his supposed sensibilities. " _I_ think so, but as you know, I'm biased." 

Rafe snickered. "Well, you are sleeping with him." That was more than likely a big mistake. He would regret trying to play such games with Jim. If he lived. 

Blair gasped theatrically. "No way! Is that what we've been doing, Jim? Jim! Have you been climbing into my bed at night when I'm sleeping? To have your evil way with me?" 

Jim's lips twitched as he tried valiantly to keep a straight face. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Chief." 

"Gee, thanks, Rafe. Shit, it's a damn good thing you pointed this out to us. Otherwise, who knows how long we might have gone on... _fucking_...each other senseless when we should have been sleeping?" Blair forgave himself for speaking so plainly. It was all in a good cause. There were so few opportunities to turn his mordant wit upon Rafe. While he was handsome enough, if you like bland, Blair added, he was way too full of himself. But he was so much fun to play with. 

Rafe swallowed all the spit in his mouth and nearly choked himself, all that saliva going down the wrong way, causing him to cough and wheeze. "Jim!" 

"Yes, Rafe?" Jim smiled serenely, almost pulling off the look of innocence. 

Rafe decided that he didn't really understand how someone like Jim, who had been through it all, could look so... _untouched_ by it all. "Too much information," he managed to sputter out, looking like a man who, all things considered, would really rather be in Philadelphia. 

"Shall we let him off the hook, Chief?" 

"Ummmm...." 

"Please?" Rafe begged. Politely, of course. Now there was a man whose hair was never out of place. For a moment, Blair hated him. Then he recalled how much Jim loved to thrust his fingers through his long curls and sighed happily. 

"Okay, Rafe. Take a hike, man." 

"Thank you, thank you," Rafe all but babbled, leaving Jim to wonder if the next words out of his mouth would be "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy." 

After Rafe left, Blair launched himself at his Sentinel, pressing himself to Jim's body as tightly as possible. Blair's blue eyes smoldered as he stared intently into Jim's face. 

"We've got to stop meeting like this, Chief." 

"Never," Blair whispered huskily. 

" _You_ have an appointment with Emory, remember?" 

"Shit, how could I possibly forget?" 

"You're sure you're going to be okay with this?" Jim asked in a worried tone. 

"Yeah, man." Blair hooked an errant tendril of dark brown hair over his left ear. "You'll be listening from outside anyway. So I'll be fine." 

"I know, Chief, but what I hear won't be considered admissible evidence. Not with me somewhere else entirely." 

Blair took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "But if we push Emory far enough, Jim, we won't need your word, which would be thrown out anyway, for conflict of interest." 

Jim kissed Blair, and not for the first time, he thought that there was no earthly reason to do this. He could quit his job, Blair could leave the U, and they could move. Somewhere, anywhere. Out of the reach of people like Nolan Emory. 

A few moments later, Blair seemingly read his mind. "It's not in our nature to run away, Jim. And even if it was...we can't let him get away with what he's done. Or will do." 

Jim brushed his nose against Blair's in a gesture that was more affectionate than sensual. "You're beginning to sound like me, Chief." 

"Hm...must be all those late nights we've been spending together." 

"Must be," Jim agreed, gazing lovingly into Blair's eyes, which suddenly seemed all the more vivid now. 

"Um, Jim? Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but-could we get out of the men's room? People are gonna talk, man." 

Jim raked his younger partner's slight yet firm body avidly. "Let's give 'em something to talk about." 

* * *

Blair was a nervous wreck. Emory was late. However, Blair was not convinced that Emory wasn't simply playing games, just to see how high he'd jump at his command. Ergo, Emory was not late. Emory was somewhere nearby, watching the Guide squirm anxiously. 

All at once Blair's cell phone rang shrilly. "Sandburg." 

"Well, well, if it isn't the young professor himself." 

"Emory." 

"Oh, come now, surely you can bring yourself to call me Nolan. We're going to be such... _good_ friends." 

Over my dead body, Blair shuddered. "Sure...", Blair gulped, "...Nolan." 

"Better. Better," Emory said, his voice strangely soothing for all his bizarre antics. For a second, Blair began to wonder if he could be hypnotized over the phone, eventually dismissing the idea as ridiculous. And yet...there was something about Emory. Something...arcane. 

"Where shall we meet, my hot young friend?" 

Blair squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to let his mind wander at all. That way lay dangerous territory. "I thought I'd leave that up to you. As a show of good faith." 

"Excellent," the older man purred. "How about...the fountain at Rainier?" 

"Ex-excuse m-me...." Shit, now there was an old wound, one that had healed over time, but not without pain and suffering and considerable effort. He couldn't know what happened there. 

And yet...somehow Blair was sure he did. 

* * *

Part 10 

"Shit." Even Blair could feel his pulse jump into the nether regions where arrhythmias lurked. That last comment, no, it wasn't a fucking comment, it was an insinuation, an insinuation with a hell of a lot of hidden meaning behind it. That insinuation kick-started his heartbeat into tachycardia. 

There was no way to keep this from Jim. In fact, he gave Jim mere seconds before he was on him like down on a duck. One...two...three.... 

"Ooh, new record, Jim," Blair quipped in a weak attempt at humor. 

"You can't tell me that SOB isn't scaring the shit out of you, Chief. I can hear your heart beating like it's going to come out of your chest." 

"Hey, fear is a healthy thing. A little fear keeps you on your toes. Keeps the old senses humming, keeps-" 

"Shut up, Blair." 

"Jim?" 

"This isn't a democracy anymore, and you don't get a fucking vote. Emory's too dangerous. I won't allow-" 

"You won't allow what, Jim? I'm a grown man. Hell, I'm the one who should be freaking out here. He picked the fountain for a reason, Jim. He wanted me off-balance. He wanted me to be so busy thinking about th-that, I couldn't defend myself." 

"And? You don't look ready for Emory, Chief. You look fucking whipped." 

"So maybe I have a few bad memories, Jim. I can deal with this." 

"No, you can't." 

" _I_ can. You can't," Blair said slowly as realization dawned. "He wasn't trying to get at me, Jim. At least, not entirely. Not yet. He was trying to take you out." 

"That's ridiculous. I'm not the one who d-d-" 

"You can't even fucking say it, can you, Jim? I... _died_...there." 

Jim began to shake his head, almost absently, his eyes losing their focus. He looked like a man who was facing something he desperately wanted to avoid. Something that scared the bejesus out of him. 

" _You're_ the one he wants off-balance, Jim. He knows what a formidable adversary you are. This is his way of evening out the playing field." 

"Christ." 

"Yeah. It's working, too. Jim, I know this is killing you, man...." Jim winced at his choice of words, and Blair apologized with his eyes. "But you've got to keep it together." 

"I am. I will," Jim vowed. 

Blair gently stroked Jim's close-cropped hair, and Jim closed his eyes, almost zoning on Blair's touch, but pulling back at the last instant. "If I ever had any doubt about who was in charge here, Chief, I don't now. It's you." Jim hated feeling vulnerable. Even worse, he hated feeling at someone else's mercy. Powerless. It was like someone had thrown the switch on his Sentinel senses, temporarily derailing them. Deadening them. Jim shivered, fine tremors traveling down the hardened length of his body. 

"Knowing about us gives him an edge, Jim. He's striking at you through me. But he doesn't know about the Sentinel thing. That's the only thing we have to work as an advantage." 

"What if it's not enough, Chief?" 

"It has to be, Jim. It has to be." 

* * *

Blair approached the fountain with real trepidation. No matter how much time went by, no matter how many times he passed it everyday, the fountain never lost its influence over him. It was like watching a traffic accident. You didn't want to look, but you couldn't tear your eyes away from it. 

He could have looked at the fountain as a positive sign. A reminder of how Jim saved him. Literally brought him back from the precipice. Using the power of their animal spirits to reanimate the life force inside Blair. 

But no matter how hard he tried, Blair could not see the fountain as anything but evil. A tangible representation of Alex's treachery. A souvenir of Jim's inexplicable desertion of his Guide. Right at the moment he needed him most. 

He wondered if Jim still felt guilt about the events that led up to his death and his subsequent resurrection. 

Fuck. He knew Jim. Jim was capable of feeling guilty about choosing to eat sugared cereal instead of a bran muffin for breakfast. 

They had gotten past it. That was true. But they never really talked about it. It was like the elephant in the room. Bigger than life. But everyone ignored it, no matter how hard it was to suspend disbelief. 

Blair saw Emory. The tall blond looked completely relaxed, legs wide apart, arms crossed casually over his chest. Standing there in front of the fountain. Daring Blair to come closer. 

Well, he had to. Didn't he? 

"I'm so glad you could make it, Blair," Emory said smoothly, managing to sound as if this were a routine business meeting. 

Deciding that the only way to play this was to cut as close to how he really felt as possible, Blair said, "Let's can the small talk, No-lan." 

"Ah, the pretense fades," Emory concluded triumphantly. "Why don't you admit it, Blair? You're only here to try to save your lover's ass. A very fine ass, too, I might add. If I were enamored of cops. But alas, I fear I'm just too much of a non-conformist to appreciate their stolid way of looking at the world." 

"What do you care, Nolan? If all you want is to get fucked, get in line, man. Jim's not the only one with a claim on my time." 

"But I am the only one offering you carte blanche, am I not?" 

"I dunno, Nolan. Is locking someone up in your bedroom, keeping them handy for a quick fuck whenever you want, carte blanche? Sounds like slavery to me." 

"Slaves don't get paid, Blair." 

" _Yours_ do." 

Emory sighed elegantly. "Are you still determined to thwart me, Blair? Your Jim can only suffer the very real consequences of my wrath if you do. Be careful." 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, man. Let's get to it." 

"Your enthusiasm is overwhelming." 

Blair snorted impolitely. "Hey, man, you're not paying for enthusiasm. You want enthusiasm, get a hooker." 

"A man with so much to lose should be more cautious." 

"Fuck caution. You want me or not?" Blair hid the quiver in his voice behind his burgeoning anger. At Emory for starting this. At himself for not finding another way out. And yes, at Jim for taking him at his word not to just shoot this fucking son-of-a-bitch and let the chips fall where they may. 

"Oh, yes," Emory answered, a curious lilt in his voice. His green eyes blazed with emerald fire as he contemplated making Blair his. 

Oh, yes. 

* * *

Part 11 

Blair could hear the sound of a gun being cocked. At close range. He was no Sentinel, but he knew the sound. It was unmistakable. 

"Tempting as that offer is, Blair's going to have to pass." 

The look on Emory's face was priceless. "You know, Detective Ellison, you are rapidly becoming a thorn in my side." 

"Beats being whatever the hell it is you are." 

Jim gestured with the barrel of the gun, indicating that Emory should prepare to be arrested. "It bothers you that you can't fit me into a convenient category, doesn't it, Ellison?" 

"I'm sure I'll think of something," Jim replied dryly. "Chief, get my handcuffs for me," he directed. 

Emory pursed his lips, his bright green eyes narrowing their focus to only one man. Jim Ellison. "I can't even begin to imagine what you think you're arresting me for." 

"How about rape?" 

Emory smiled. It was not a becoming look at all. It was as if something dead inside him suddenly flared into life. "Not even close." 

"There's always extortion." 

"Oh, come now, is there any evidence of coercion? Mind you, I expect you to take a good look, Detective. Take a real good look." 

Jim's light blue eyes flickered from Emory to Blair and back again. "You okay, Chief?" 

Blair heaved a sigh of exasperation, snapping the handcuffs over Nolan Emory's wrists. "He's right, Jim," Blair muttered under his breath. "You blew it. Bigtime. You stepped in way too soon, man." 

Jim maintained his grip on his gun by sheer force of will. "Chief-" 

"You always think you know best, Jim," Blair interjected angrily. "Well, sometimes, you're a bigger fuck-up than I am." 

Jim's mouth fell open in disbelief. "I didn't expect gratitude, Sandburg, but-Shit, did you expect me to stand by and let him fuck you? For the sake of the case? Jeez, how fucked up is that?" 

A deliciously sly smile crept across Emory's handsome features. Granted, he was still smarting from being one-upped by a mere...cop. But the battle wasn't over yet. It sounded like Ellison was his own worst enemy. 

"I'm just saying that it would be nice for you to rely on my judgment, once in a while, that's all. It's not like I don't know what I'm doing here, Jim." 

"Oh, right, Chief. You were so fucking scared, you were shaking." 

Jim gasped sharply as he realized what he'd said in front of Emory, and Blair closed his eyes with a moue of disgust. "Thanks, Jim," he whispered as he turned to walk away. 

Jim watched in silence as Blair's footsteps faded away into the distance. He listened as Blair's heartbeat grew fainter.... 

...until it was almost like that day. That day Blair d-d-shit, he died, Ellison, he fucking died. 

Emory offered Jim his manacled wrists. "Take these off." 

With a visible shudder, Jim came back to himself, realizing that he had just experienced a short zone-out. "No." 

"I'll have you up for false arrest so quickly, you won't be able to get a job as a security guard in Woolworth's." 

"Woolworth's is out of business." 

"So?" 

Jim smiled. "So are you." 

"You'll never make this stick, Ellison," Emory shouted as Jim began to walk away. 

"Try me." 

Suddenly Jim turned on his heel and spun around, surprising Emory by bending to fit his key into the cuffs' lock. "Now you're beginning to make sense, Detective," Emory started to congratulate him. Prematurely. "I'm so glad you see things my way." 

Jim slipped the cuffs off Emory's hands and blinked, his expression changing abruptly to one filled with rage. "I will never see things your way, Emory. You got that? Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to kill you." Jim leaned closer, so close that Emory swore he could see the veins and arteries pulsating under his skin. 

"But that would take me away from Blair...and I won't do that to myself. No matter how much you deserve it." 

"Then you admit that you made a mistake, Detective. Blair and I were merely...coming to terms with each other," Emory lied smoothly. 

"There's a name for people like you. Keep your hands off him." 

"Now, now, Jim, may I call you Jim? You're forgetting about the...suggestions I made regarding your tenure at the Police Department." 

"Is that a... _threat_ , Emory? Cause if it is...." 

"Of course not." Emory gave Jim a withering glance. "But if I may say so, Detective," he emphasized with frost in every word, "if Blair should become a... _free_ agent, he could do worse than to end up with me." 

Emory began to nod slowly, as if a plan only he could see was coming to fruition. Soon. Very soon. "You're doing a far better job of pushing him into someone else's arms than I could ever do, Detective. Keep up the good work. I'll be there waiting when Blair finally walks out on you." 

This was so close to what Jim often felt, deep in his heart, that he visibly reacted. He wanted to smash something. He needed the physical release. Emory's face just happened to be there. It was Fate. 

As Jim punched, his fingers caught the corner of Emory's mouth, tearing a jagged laceration across the side of his face. Nolan Emory would heal. Eventually. But he would never be pretty again. 

"That was stupid, Ellison," Emory rasped as he swiped at the blood already trickling down his neck. "You're throwing your life away." He snorted inelegantly. "Just like he did. Maybe the two of you do belong together." 

"Thanks, Emory. All this time I've been agonizing over the fact that this is where Blair died. All this time I've been tormented by what he gave up. The only saving grace being that I managed to bring him back. But you know what?" 

Jim moved towards the older man, heartened to see that he had the good sense to back up, not certain what to expect anymore. "This is where Blair came back to life. Now it's my turn to give up something. If that means giving up my work, so be it. Cause he's the one who brought me back." 

Something inside Emory seemed to shrink. Where was the man's aristocratic bearing? Where was his answer to everything and anything? Where was the magician who made it look so easy to dissemble and disappear? 

"And I'll tell you one more thing," Jim uttered hoarsely. "He may not stay with me, but you'll never get your hands on him. Not as long as I'm alive." 

"It's his life. His choice." 

Jim closed his eyes and heard an all-too-familiar litany start up in his head. Don't leave me, Chief. Please. 

Oh, they found Nolan Emory in the fountain the next day. Sitting there in his expensive suit. Wet, disheveled...handcuffed to the statue in the middle of the pool. When they asked him how he got there...he didn't have a word to say. 

* * *

Part 12/End 

"Chief?" 

Jim's voice sounded loud in the silent loft. Blair was nowhere in sight, but that meant nothing to a Sentinel. He could hear his heartbeat. It was a little too fast, but he attributed that to the events of the night before. 

The sun was just coming up and Jim could easily zone on the huge orange orb. For a moment, he considered doing just that. It was so tempting, the idea of letting go and falling face forward into the overpowering light. 

But then he thought of Blair and the darkness in him, so drawn to that light, faded back into the shadowy depths inside. Blair was his light. And he shone brighter than the sun. 

"Chief?" he called again as he approached the stairs. No answer. Opening up his senses, he quickly located Blair. He wasn't upstairs at all. He was in his old room. Oh, no.... 

He pushed the French doors apart and stopped. He wasn't surprised that Blair was awake. His eyes, obviously reddened and swollen, mirrored the younger man's inner anguish. "Aw, Chief..." Jim whispered. Blair looked so terribly wounded, Jim couldn't bring himself to raise his voice any further. 

"You didn't come home last night, Jim," Blair said, his features drained of all animation. 

"I had to, uh, take care of...Emory," Jim said hesitantly, suddenly uncertain of the outcome of this conversation. 

"Right. You probably beat the crap out of him, huh? Bet it made you feel better. Like a real man." 

"Chief-" 

Tears blurred Blair's beautiful blue eyes as he struggled to make eye contact. "Do you know how worried I was, Jim? When you didn't come home?" 

Jim couldn't look into those eyes any longer. "Blair-" 

"I was so afraid to fall asleep, Jim. I was so afraid that you weren't coming back...and...and...it was all my fault." 

"None of this was your fault, Chief." 

"I'm supposed to watch your back, Jim. I'm supposed to be your partner in every sense of the word now. But I left you. I fucking left you, man." 

"You didn't leave me, Chief," Jim said, kneeling on the carpet beside the bed. He grasped Blair's hands in his. "I drove you away." 

Jim reached out and touched the side of Blair's face, his fingers tracing an idle pattern around his earring. "You remember when you accused me of acting like a caveman?" 

Blair nodded without speaking, his blue eyes darkened to a shade not unlike a starless night sky. "I couldn't help myself, Blair. I didn't mean to treat you like a possession instead of a person. But I felt this...overwhelming need to protect you...at any cost." 

Blair looked like the bottom had fallen out of his world. "You think that all of this, us loving each other, is just part of the territorial imperative?" 

Jim anchored his hands in Blair's hair and pulled him close enough to kiss. Their lips a breath apart, Jim stared into Blair's eyes before dropping his gaze to Blair's mouth. "Biology can only explain part of what I feel, Chief. The rest is just... _you_. I love you. The very essence of you." 

He brushed his lips against Blair's, his tongue flicking out to capture that full lower lip that made Blair look so sensual. "I love you so fucking much, Blair," Jim said, his voice breaking. "But if you want to go, I won't stand in your way." I'll just fucking die without you, Chief. 

With a soft cry, Blair buried his face against Jim's neck, feeling the older man's throat move restlessly as he tried to suppress tears. "I don't want to go, Jim," Blair whispered, "I love you, too." 

For the longest time, Jim knelt there on the floor, Blair in his arms, imagining that this must be what it felt like to hold a sunrise. 

* * *

A long time later, Jim reluctantly stood up, not without considerable stiffness and discomfort in his knees. He pulled Blair to his feet, wrapping his arms around his sleepy Guide. "Come upstairs, Chief. You look like you're out on your feet." 

Blair cocked his head, his eyes half hidden by the downsweep of fancifully long eyelashes. "Sleep with me," he entreated. 

Jim suppressed a smile. "If I get into bed with you, Chief, neither one of us will sleep." 

"And this is a problem because?" 

Jim nuzzled Blair's neck, his mouth latching onto the tender skin there. Suckling, licking...marking. With a huge sigh, Jim retreated, forcing himself to release Blair from his embrace. " _You_ can sleep, Blair. I have to go to work." 

"Jim! You've been up all night!" 

"The bad guys don't care about whether or not the good guys get enough sleep." 

"But I want you to stay, Jim," Blair groaned. 

"I wish I could, but-" 

The phone rang with an all but deafening shrillness. As one, they turned to look at the offending object. "It can't be." 

"I'm sure it's not." 

They listened to it ring two, three, four times. All the while they stared at it, transfixed, as though it were a poisonous snake coiled to spring. When it rang for the fourth time, the answering machine picked up with an audible pop. 

All at once Simon's voice boomed across the room, making Jim wince and put his hands over both ears. "Ellison! Sandburg! I know you're there, so pick up the damn phone!" 

Blair blinked and Jim shrugged. Jim picked up the cordless and put it to his ear. "Yes, sir?" 

"What the hell did you do to Nolan Emory?" 

"Do, sir?" 

"And stop repeating everything I say, dammit! What's the matter with you?" 

"Nothing, sir. Things couldn't be better." 

"Really. Then tell me how come Nolan Emory was found handcuffed to a statue in the same fountain where Sandburg was drowned." Jim could no more ignore the command in Simon's tones than he could resist the pull of his love for Blair. 

"Well, sir, it's a long story." 

"Lucky for you, I have plenty of time." Pause. "Now get your ass back here and talk to me face to face!" 

"I-" 

"And bring the kid with you!" 

"I--Simon, he's not a kid." 

"Good thing, too, or you'd be locked up for robbing the cradle," Simon said with a smile in his voice. An audible smile. What a concept, as Blair would say. 

"Captain...Simon...Blair and I-" 

Blair rolled his eyes. "What Jim is trying to say is...we haven't had any sleep since the day before yesterday!" he shouted into the general vicinity of the phone. 

"You can't have the day off, Sandburg. Besides, you don't exactly work for me. You belong to Jim." 

Blair all but bounced up and down, causing certain parts of Jim's anatomy to run for cover. "Thank you, Simon!" 

"Sandburg, you listening to me? I said no! N-O. No!" 

"Jim will find a way to make it up to you, sir." 

Jim's eyes widened. "I will?" he mouthed at his unrepentant lover. 

Blair chuckled, and the sound of that voice, low and deep, sent shivers down Jim's spine. Blair hung up the phone. Without another word, he wound himself around Jim's body, sighing happily when he was done. 

Pointing in the direction of Jim's bed, he commanded, "Home, James." 

Hey, a Sentinel has to listen to his Guide. It's in the official rulebook. 

End Mercury In Retrograde 


End file.
